I was a former senior manager at KPMG and since 1994 the owner of the Marks Group PC, a 10 person customer relationship management consulting firm based outside Philadelphia. I've written six small-business management books, most recently "The Manufacturer's Book of List" and “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Simple Lessons From Smart Business People.” Besides Forbes, I daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post monthly for Philadelphia Magazine. I am an unpaid contributor to Forbes. I make no compensation from the number of people who read what I write here. Follow me on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

12/12/2011 @ 7:25AM782,787 views

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

President Obama gave an excellent speech last week in Kansas about inequality in America.

“This is the defining issue of our time.” He said. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.”

He’s right. The spread between rich and poor has gotten wider over the decades. And the opportunities for the 99% have become harder to realize.

The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia. The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.

I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.

It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study. I’d become expert at Google Scholar. I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes and CliffsNotes to help me understand books. I’d watch relevant teachings on Academic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy. (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.) I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Is this easy? No it’s not. It’s hard. It takes a special kind of kid to succeed. And to succeed even with these tools is much harder for a black kid from West Philadelphia than a white kid from the suburbs. But it’s not impossible. The tools are there. The technology is there. And the opportunities there.

In Philadelphia, there are nationally recognized magnet schools like Central, Girls High and Masterman. These schools are free. But they are hard to get in to. You need good grades and good test scores. And there are also other good magnet and charter schools in the city. You also need good grades to get into those. In a school system that is so broken these are bright spots. Getting into one of these schools opens up a world of opportunities. More than 90% of the kids that go to Central go on to college. I would use the internet to research each one of these schools so I could find out how I could be admitted. I would find out the names of the admissions people and go to meet with them. If I was a poor black kid I would make it my goal to get into one of these schools.

Or even a private school. Most private schools I know are filled to the brim with the 1%. That’s because these schools are exclusive and expensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $50k per year. But there’s a secret about them. Most have scholarship programs. Most have boards of trustees that want to give opportunities to kids that can’t afford the tuition. Many would provide funding for not only tuition but also for transportation or even boarding. Trust me, they want to show diversity. They want to show smiling, smart kids of many different colors and races on their fundraising brochures. If I was a poor black kid I’d be using technology to research these schools on the internet, too, and making them know that I exist and that I get good grades and want to go to their school.

And once admitted to one of these schools the first person I’d introduce myself to would be the school’s guidance counselor. This is the person who will one day help me go to a college. This is the person who knows everything there is to know about financial aid, grants, minority programs and the like. This is the person who may also know of job programs and co-op learning opportunities that I could participate in. This is the person who could help me get summer employment at a law firm or a business owned by the 1% where I could meet people and show off my stuff.

If I was a poor black kid I would get technical. I would learn software. I would learn how to write code. I would seek out courses in my high school that teaches these skills or figure out where to learn more online. I would study on my own. I would make sure my writing and communication skills stay polished.

Because a poor black kid who gets good grades, has a part time job and becomes proficient with a technical skill will go to college. There is financial aid available. There are programs available. And no matter what he or she majors in that person will have opportunities. They will find jobs in a country of business owners like me who are starved for smart, skilled people. They will succeed.

President Obama was right in his speech last week. The division between rich and poor is a national problem. But the biggest challenge we face isn’t inequality. It’s ignorance. So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.

Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.

Editor’s note — This post has generated an enormous amount of feedback here on Forbes and across the web. Here are a few of those responses:

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I agree with many of your points Gene. I am hispanic but I attended a charter school. KIPP and Dave Levin one of the founders of these amazing charter schools was my principal. I worked hard got good grades got accepted to Andover, Choate,Deerfield among other great private boarding schools and into Loyola in NYC among other NY based private school. I decided on a private prep in Pennsylvania and I had a great experience overall. I worked hard and yes I was the girl from the Bronx but I met the right people many 1% who are now some of my closest friends. I do think you generalize a bit because it is not so easy for many people. Those schools do fund but there are other costs that I know many cant’t fund and also some people are more disadvantaged than other. Other than that I do agree that opportunities are there but many people just need better support networks and people to care. Also, knowledge is power and I know people who have never heard of prep schools or programs. Overall, you are a brave white man because you know this was a bit controversial but I cant say that your overall message is wrong. I agree like in anything in life you have to work hard and make your own future. regardless of the barriers one faces in life.

what a simpleton. of course he doenst care about your story. he doesnt care about facts or reality. thats how liberals and socialists are. liberalism is his religeon and all he cares about is his ideology. he feels like hes a better person than you cause hell do anything for poor blacks even if it hurts them. its a mental disease of narciccism.

black has nothing to do with it. its about helping the poor unless you are a leftist tool. then its about yourself and you need to yell you wanna help blacks, so people will like you and you can feel better about yourself.

dont have kids out of wedlock. dont have kids when youre not married and dont have a job. dont have a kid before you graduate college and get married and you wont have a POOR BLACK CHILD. but gene wont go there…he likes his ridicluous feelgood puff nonsense.

you can come to this country, be non white, not speak the language, and be a billionaire in youre lifetime. this whole story is a liberal lie, put up for the sole reason that gene marks wants people to like him. what a joke.

To stick by what your wrote, shows you are willfully being intolerant, not to mention showing a disregard to what journalistic practices would really make your argument sound.

1) “If your momma tells you she loves you, check it out”. Have you ever checked out your ideas/beliefs with the reality today? Have you ever talked with a poor black child as to why they aren’t applying your recipe to success? I don’t think so, because if your recipe wouldn’t be so pardon the pun, black and white. It would also wouldn’t really so heavily on external objects but rather internal characteristics to which really make a person succeed.

2) Why only target poor black kids? Did you realize as you wrote your formula that it comes across as biased, discriminatory and plain flat out bullying? Why target low-income blacks as an example for how anyone without advantages could succeed? Do you think that poor whites,Asians and Hispanic kids know the success?

3)By the time you were 8,9 or 13 how much of the world did you understand? As a former teacher, who is black and comes from a upper middle class background with access to superb education, I taught in low income schools and even abroad. I won’t digress in what differences I learned in their schooling vs mine, but one thing I did learn, which made me a far better teacher than any of the education that prepared me to be a teacher, was, they are learning everything for the first time. While I had high expectations for all of my students based on my experiences, I could not disregard their experiences in the learning process. In order to raise the achievement levels of my students, I had to remember and remind myself often that children do not have the same problem solving skills that I have been taught by what ever age they were, nor do they have hindsight that gives them the complex perspective we have as adults.

I hope for the sake of your children’s sanity you remember that. If not, expect see them in therapy. A LOT.

While I agree with your solution for how children could set themselves up for success, I hardly doubt children (who are trying to get their days without getting shot at, bullied by classmates and people within their community, deal with poor performing teachers, and school administrators, and all the other stuff that separates their environment from our “Andy Griffin Show”-like environment, are just being lazy.

Why do your article/blog post a service, do a follow up by actually talking to sources to validate your point.

Hi Gene, I believe you are still missing the point that many have made. When you are poor, you are lacking in adequate nutrition and other bare essentials needed in order to live a healthy life. Constantly having to struggle can be a motivation for some, but as a child, this is hard to deal with, when you see your mother or father at their whit’s end to make ends meet. This takes an emotional toll on children who then lack the motivation or the will to take advantage of all the things you note. It’s hard to study when your stomach is grumbling. It’s hard to get adequate sleep when your home is too hot or too cold, because running the furnace or the a/c makes the bills much harder to manage. Not only are children having to do more to take care of themselves, because more than likely, the parents work 2/3 jobs, they also have to take care of their siblings. These children become adults much sooner than other children their age. The fun of childhood gets stripped away because their responsibilities are different. You are expecting a child to not only help their parents with their siblings, but to also juggle school work and trying to go out and find all this technology you talk about? That is a lot of pressure. I think you should run this experiment in your home. Don’t buy all the food you normally do for yourself and your children, turn the furnace down to 65 degrees to save on energy bills, stay out late and let your kinds fiend for themselves at night because you’re at your “second” job. Strip away all the computers in the house (because not all poor black children have a computer,sorry but those teachers lied to you). Take away the cell phones and other luxury items. After you do that for a few days, I bet you and your family couldn’t do it for a week. Your children will be hungry and not care about their school work, they just want a meal or they want the heat to rise a bit so they can at least feel comfortable in the house. You have neglected to put yourself through a situation in which you feel you have the right to speak on. You will never understand what it’s like to be black and live as a black person, no matter what someone tells you or what statistics show you. The next article you write should be an apology for your remarks that have been totally and completely offensive and not thought through.

that’s rich! “thank you for your comments, based on first-hand experience, but i still stand by my pontifications on a topic from which i am so completely disconnected because this is how i think the world should work.”

If I were an ignorant white guy trying to prove my ill-conceived point, I would learn how to write in proper English without dangling prepositions or fragmented sentences and I’d know when to say “If I were” rather than “If I was.”

I am a school teacher who has taught in impoverished areas in the USA, New Zealand, and India. In all these areas, the culture and socio-economic circumstances affecting students are the same: limitations on money and time. Money due to the difficulty of buying a computer and putting food on the table. Time due to the needed after school job that limits the time the students can study.

Please, before you have given a recipe for success, please spend time teaching in these areas you have spoken about for more than three years. Then, and only then, may I start to believe you if you can provide more concrete examples of when your recipe works, more than 5% of the time.

This is not true nor even remotely accurate presently or historically. There are truly interesting conversations happening around this article that should be posted… http://www.dominionofnewyork.com/2011/12/13/if-i-were-the-middle-class-white-guy-gene-marks/#.Tuj1IJiqa4n

Your disconnect with the stark reality poor people live in, is total and complete.

Many comments on this page point why you are dead wrong. It’s like you don’t hear what people say.

Let’s put it like this: If you were a middle aged, balding white guy, slightly overweight, you might get married to Angelina Jolie (insert favorite celebrity here) and have 10 lovechildren with her, if …. you work hard, get a complete makeover, hair implants, find a movie exec who wants to produce your script, etc. etc. Yes. That might happen. And you know what? your chances on this, are 10 times better than your mythical black kid. Even if he makes it, like for example … Obama? He will get discriminated against, lied about, racially abused, just like his under 12 kids … So, why bother?